Here are the scheduled games for Season 66 of the Challenge. The seeds for each conference are based on the end-of-Season 64 RPIs for each team. Go ahead and try to schedule these games when non-conference scheduling opens up for next season.

Sorry for the late update, but congratulations once again to the Freedom Conference for winning the CCIW-CUNY-Freedom Challenge for Season 65. That makes it three wins for Freedom out of the three seasons I've kept a record of all the Challenge games.

This year there was a pretty distinct pecking order between the three conferences, but that could change next season! Don't forget to schedule your Challenge games for Season 66 if you haven't already done so.

I want to add a little more substance to the results reporting this season by recognizing some of the top games and individual performances each week of the Challenge. Hope you enjoy the additional color. I definitely can't cover everything, though -- feel free to add on with your own observations if you'd like.

Season 66, Week 7 - Overview
CCIW started out of the gate strong by winning 5 of 7 against CUNY. The top four seeds for CCIW -- Martin Luther, North Park, Millikin and Illinois Wesleyan -- all won their games. Martin Luther and North Park were propelled into the Top 10 of the national polls with their respective victories. One bright spot for CUNY is that Baruch won their first Challenge game in three seasons with a commanding victory over CCIW up-and-comers Elmhurst

Game of the Week - Iliinois Wesleyan 90, Hunter 87
Having traded leads for much of the second half, IL Wesleyan edged out to a four point lead with 1:35 left on two free throws from Herbert Lin and a big three-pointer from Adrian Hamm. After trading baskets, Hunter cut the margin to one with 23 seconds left on a clutch three-pointer from Sammy Mehaffy. Hamm subsequently converted two free throws for IL Wesleyan, but that still gave Hunter 22 seconds to get a three-pointer to send the game to OT. Mehaffy had two shots to convert the tying basket, but both were off the mark and IL Wesleyan survived.

Performance of the Week - Larry Burgan, Millikin, PG (22 pts, 6 reb, 6 ast)
Others might have scored more points, but Burgan scored the key points late in the game to help Millikin pull away from Brooklyn. With the game tied at 50 and 4:48 left, Burgan scored six points in the next 90 seconds to give Millikin a four-point lead. In the final minute Burgan assisted on a key basket and converted a free throw to help seal the game for Millikin.

What's next -- CCIW will have to show that their strong start was no fluke by taking on the Challenge kings, Freedom. The tastiest matchup is undoubtedly the tilt between two ranked 6-1 teams -- #13 Wilkes at #9 Martin Luther. Vegas says that one is too close to call. A little further down the table, another matchup that appears tight is PSU-Behrend at N. Central.

Season 66, Week 8 - Overview
Freedom gained a slight edge over CCIW this week by winning four of the seven games on tap. The two CCIW teams in the Top 10 split their games, with then #9 (now #5) Martin Luther prevailing over Wilkes 59-54 but FDU-Florham upsetting then-#4 (now #9) North Park 71-69. Two other ranked teams in Freedom had differing outcomes -- Delaware Valley stayed in the Top 25 with an overtime victory over Wisconsin Lutheran, but Carnegie Mellon dropped out of the polls after losing 54-50 at Augustana.

As a result of these games, Freedom and CCIW have identical 0.571 winning percentages heading into Week 9.

Game of the Week -- FDU-Florham 71, North Park 69
This was a tight battle throughout, with the lead never being greater than two points for either side in the last three minutes. North Park's fans were feeling good when William Green hit a finger roll with 1:09 left to give his team a 69-67 lead. Green, however, promptly became a goat by committing a non-shooting foul on FDU's Robert Messer who converted two free throws to tie the game. Two mistakes by N. Park's Jim Whitner ended up settling the game in favor of FDU -- Whitner turned the ball over on the Park's subsequent possession, and then fouled FDU's Norman Wells on a second-chance shot. Wells hit both of his FTs with two seconds left and N. Park had no time to respond.

Players of the Week -- from a pure stats view, it is hard to top Dennis Greenwood's contributions for Wisconsin Lutheran in their OT loss to Delaware Valley -- Greenwood scored 39 points (30 of those on 3-pointers) and played 41 of the 45 minutes. Timothy Hodges (23 pts, 5 ast on 9-18 shooting including 5-12 from 3pt range) pushed PSU-Behrend to an easier-than-expected 65-48 win over N. Central.

What's next -- in past seasons, Freedom has won the Challenges based in part on strong performances against CUNY. With nine games on top, the opportunity is there for another strong performance. If Freedom wins seven of the nine games, they will clinch another Challenge victory. If Freedom wins five or six of the nine, the Challenge will come down to the Week 10 match-up between Frostburg St. and Millikin. If CUNY can win at least seven of the nine, they have a chance to win the Challenge depending on the result of that Week 10 game.

I'll do a more detailed update of Weeks 9 and 10 together, but for now a quick update -- Freedom won five out of their nine games vs. CUNY, so the Challenge will once again go down to Week 10 -- this season the sole Week 10 matchup is Frostburg St. at Millikin. Playing for conference pride as well as team pride.